My idea was kind of ambitious for such a small timeline, but I thought it could be done. I liked Gabe’s suggestion to put the speakers inside the disco ball because it would make it more portable and also easier to install/control since I was just going to be manually turning the music on. I spent quite a bit of time on Friday shopping for an affordable disco ball and battery operated, remote controlled iPod speakers. No success. The only disco balls I could find were motorized and pricey, and none of the remote controlled speakers I found were also battery operated. So I decided to make my own disco ball out of old promo CDs from the days when I was a music writer. 
It was kind of a tedious task, with all the cutting and hot gluing, but I tried to remain patient. I made it into a dome shape, so I could fit the speakers inside. 
On Saturday I finally found speakers, and I thought I was going to be in business. I brought them home and put them inside the disco ball, hit play on the remote … and nothing. I maneuvered around the room in a few different ways and rearranged the disco ball a few times. Still nothing. The remote is really picky and only receives the signal from about 2 feet away in a direct line of the base of the dock. So after spending all day putting this magical disco ball together, I decided that this was not going to work.
On Sunday I found a party light set, which I thought I could use if I could fashion a base that would hold the speakers but allow the remote sensor to be exposed. I brought them home and made a few prototypes. The remote still hated me. 
Finally on Monday I finished the damn thing, deciding that I would just create a small model of my original concept and have the whole thing on the whole time instead of reacting to people as they approach. The flashy lights and disco ball spinning and music on should attract people, no? I spent some time scouting out a few park locations that are always populated with people of various ages. I made a date with my roommate/fellow art lover/Pratt Institute attender to be my assistant on Tuesday morning. We were to meet early in Ft. Greene park, on a corner that is always populated by morning joggers, dog walkers, kids playing, people cutting through to walk to the train, etc. I woke up early to an unpleasant sound: rain.
Since this whole thing is battery operated, installing it in the rain is a bad idea. There was a break in the rain during the afternoon when I had a minute, so I took a quick walk down to the park with the disco party in hand. The park was deserted. And it had started raining again. I was out of time and out of luck.
Here’s a demo of the whole gadget at work:
Video of it actually installed in public to come…
